Top 10 ways you can be hacked

Paying attention to how you use the internet, and putting some simple safeguards in place, can help prevent most of these top 10 ways you can be hacked.

10. Stolen Credentials Don’t use the same password for all of your online accounts. I know this is a pain, so how about using the name of the company that you are logging into … with your same password. For instance… If my favorite password is “TonyRocks,” I could use: At Amazon: “AmazonTonyRocks” At Gmail: “GmailTonyRocks” At Wells Fargo: “WellsfargoTonyRocks”. This way to can use your favorite password and, at the same time, be using a different password for all of your accounts!

9. Phishing, The Ultimate Human Error A general phishing campaign, that uses only 10 messages, has a better than 90 percent chance of getting a click, according to phishing defense vendor, ThreatSim. What does this mean? DON’T CLICK ON THINGS if you do not know what they are.

8. Back-Door Access Once a cybercriminal establishes a foothold, a back door helps them maintain remote access to an infected system. They remain stealthy, while often uploading more Malware, or creeping to systems containing more sensitive data. Nothing is free on the internet. When you download a game, music, a program, or whatever you are downloading, you must know that something else might be coming in and getting installed on your computer.

7. Spyware-Keyloggers Spyware attempts to steal user credentials. It is associated with keyloggers, that can record keystrokes or take a screenshot of the victim’s monitor. Again, nothing is free, so be careful when downloading anything from the internet.

6. Capture Stored Data BlackPOS, a memory scraping Malware that was used in the massive Target breach, successfully vacuumed up data that had been temporarily stored in clear text, in point-of-sale system memory. Again, nothing is free, so be careful when downloading anything from the internet.

5. SQL Injection SQL injection is a common and longstanding technique used in web application attacks, and commonly used because they’re widely available automated tools that can detect and attack them, said security experts. Be careful where you go when online. Adult sites are the worstbut free software sites can be just as bad. DO NOT USE INTERNET EXPLORER when going to suspicious sites.

4. Brute-Force AttacksWeak and default passwords are a favorite target of criminals that use brute-force attacks, to pry their way into systems. Always use different passwords and make them good ones. Use upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols.

3. Rootkits Rootkits are Malware packages that establish a foothold, and enable an attacker to gain complete control of an infected system. Rootkits are associated with getting into the underlying operating system processes, making them difficult to detect. These are very hard to remove. Again, nothing is free, so be careful when downloading anything from the internet.

2. Tampering In the Verizon report, tampering refers to gaining physical access to an automated teller machine or a gas pump terminal, to install a skimming device that reads data from credit card swipes. This is not for a regular computer, but still, be careful what you download.

1. Privilege Abuse Privilege abuse happens when an employee, or trusted partner, takes advantage of system access privileges that they are granted, and uses them to simply view files or conduct data theft, according to Verizon. The report said that, of all the insider misuse security incidents it analyzed, 88 percent involved some form of privilege abuse. Always keep network files locked up. If you need help with this, Frankenstein Computers is happy to be of service.